I've got what I think is a great set-up but am unsure how best to pay it off for the most drama, while keeping in mind that my players will undoubtedly do something unexpected.
The Story
The party Lore Bard PC has a backstory with a mother who was kidnapped by pirates when he was young.
The adventure has involved fighting against pirate ships on occasion (the pirates are an enemy force trying to secure the same set of magical items that the party is trying to get).
The story of the Bard's mother is that she was kidnapped by pirates from the Bard's village, the pirate captain having fallen in love with her.
The Bard made efforts to find her as he grew up, but he lost the trail and wasn't able to find her. The mother spent some time as a prisoner of the captain of a pirate ship. The pirate captain, wanting her attention and allegiance, told her that her son, the Bard PC, had been killed while trying to find her. In her despair and rage and eventually resignation, she gave up and became a part of the pirate ship's crew and pretended to love the captain.
Eventually, after a long time "proving" her trustworthiness to the pirate captain, she was given a position of leadership on the ship. During this time she was approached by a member of a spy organization to spy on the pirate operations (there was actually a group of pirate ships in a ragtag fleet). She agreed, and has worked for many years now as an agent for the spy organization on the pirate ship, and knows much of the operations of the pirate "fleet."
The Bard recently learned the Scrying spell and used it to scry his mother, and was astonished to discover her working with the pirates, even appearing to be a first mate on the ship. And the pirate ship she is on is anchored near a place the party is planning to go to. The pirates are trying to get the same item as the party.
So...
The Questions
I want to work into a reveal of the mother.
The Bard already knows she is on the ship and is not a prisoner.
What he doesn't know is that she is a spy for the good guys.
I want to help to make that reveal as dramatic as possible.
How do I help facilitate dramatic moments? How do I manage this as a DM? I don't want the party to simply fireball the pirate ship and kill the Bard's mother unknowingly (unlikely), but am unsure how to avoid this.
It is likely the party will get into ship to ship combat with the pirates, but the Bard has told the party that his mother is on one of the enemy pirate ships, so they may choose to attack it carefully. But the pirate ship, knowing the party's ship is an enemy, will attack the party's ship. So I think a battle is going to happen no matter what.
I'd like the Bard's mother to maybe, I dunno, fight the party? She doesn't know her son, the Bard, is alive, so she will be shocked to see him. In addition, she is a spy in the pirates, so while she needs to do stuff to keep her cover, she also ultimately wants to undermine the pirates's activities and prevent them from getting the magic item.
So how long has it been since he saw his mother? You say he was young.....
When he used the Scry spell could he see her face? Did she look the same or 'X' number of years older? Does he look the same to her (or would he) or has she tried to blot it out of her mind so would not see him until he literally stood in front of her shaking her out of her denial? If she is in denial then she could easily end up fighting him, ignoring his pleas until passing a wisdom save that got easier every round of him shouting?
Does the bard know the name of the ship & are his party actively looking for it?
Does he think his mother wasn't kidnapped but left him for a life at sea, as she seems happy to be there?
Was she actually kidnapped or did she always work for the 'good guys' and as a master spy has been stringing along this pirate because the 'good guys' have a prophecy that names this boat and she has to make sure 'X&Y' happen or don't in order for the good guys to win. Part of the reveal being that the 'face' of his mother was in fact the lie she used to get in with the captain in the first place, and that he was an orphan being used by these 'good guys' to create the backstory for his 'mother' to get onto that ship. They used a powerful modify memory on him and his young mind simply accepted it all as true.
I dont know if that helps :S
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I've got what I think is a great set-up but am unsure how best to pay it off for the most drama, while keeping in mind that my players will undoubtedly do something unexpected.
The Story
The party Lore Bard PC has a backstory with a mother who was kidnapped by pirates when he was young.
The adventure has involved fighting against pirate ships on occasion (the pirates are an enemy force trying to secure the same set of magical items that the party is trying to get).
The story of the Bard's mother is that she was kidnapped by pirates from the Bard's village, the pirate captain having fallen in love with her.
The Bard made efforts to find her as he grew up, but he lost the trail and wasn't able to find her. The mother spent some time as a prisoner of the captain of a pirate ship. The pirate captain, wanting her attention and allegiance, told her that her son, the Bard PC, had been killed while trying to find her. In her despair and rage and eventually resignation, she gave up and became a part of the pirate ship's crew and pretended to love the captain.
Eventually, after a long time "proving" her trustworthiness to the pirate captain, she was given a position of leadership on the ship. During this time she was approached by a member of a spy organization to spy on the pirate operations (there was actually a group of pirate ships in a ragtag fleet). She agreed, and has worked for many years now as an agent for the spy organization on the pirate ship, and knows much of the operations of the pirate "fleet."
The Bard recently learned the Scrying spell and used it to scry his mother, and was astonished to discover her working with the pirates, even appearing to be a first mate on the ship. And the pirate ship she is on is anchored near a place the party is planning to go to. The pirates are trying to get the same item as the party.
So...
The Questions
I want to work into a reveal of the mother.
How do I help facilitate dramatic moments? How do I manage this as a DM? I don't want the party to simply fireball the pirate ship and kill the Bard's mother unknowingly (unlikely), but am unsure how to avoid this.
It is likely the party will get into ship to ship combat with the pirates, but the Bard has told the party that his mother is on one of the enemy pirate ships, so they may choose to attack it carefully. But the pirate ship, knowing the party's ship is an enemy, will attack the party's ship. So I think a battle is going to happen no matter what.
I'd like the Bard's mother to maybe, I dunno, fight the party? She doesn't know her son, the Bard, is alive, so she will be shocked to see him. In addition, she is a spy in the pirates, so while she needs to do stuff to keep her cover, she also ultimately wants to undermine the pirates's activities and prevent them from getting the magic item.
So how long has it been since he saw his mother? You say he was young.....
When he used the Scry spell could he see her face? Did she look the same or 'X' number of years older? Does he look the same to her (or would he) or has she tried to blot it out of her mind so would not see him until he literally stood in front of her shaking her out of her denial? If she is in denial then she could easily end up fighting him, ignoring his pleas until passing a wisdom save that got easier every round of him shouting?
Does the bard know the name of the ship & are his party actively looking for it?
Does he think his mother wasn't kidnapped but left him for a life at sea, as she seems happy to be there?
Was she actually kidnapped or did she always work for the 'good guys' and as a master spy has been stringing along this pirate because the 'good guys' have a prophecy that names this boat and she has to make sure 'X&Y' happen or don't in order for the good guys to win. Part of the reveal being that the 'face' of his mother was in fact the lie she used to get in with the captain in the first place, and that he was an orphan being used by these 'good guys' to create the backstory for his 'mother' to get onto that ship. They used a powerful modify memory on him and his young mind simply accepted it all as true.
I dont know if that helps :S